


Facets

by Saki101



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Episode: s01e01 A Study in Pink, Episode: s03e01 The Empty Hearse, F/M, M/M, Sherlock Series 3 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 16:33:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1192080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saki101/pseuds/Saki101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-<i>His Last Vow</i>, a reflection on refraction and other facets. (Couldn't resist.)<br/><b>A/N:</b> More musings about Series Three, how it might connect to things that went before and what symbolism might be involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Facets

  
"Her wedding ring...rest of her jewellery's been regularly cleaned, but not her wedding ring, state of her marriage right there." (screencap from _A Study in Pink_ )

(screencap from _The Empty Hearse_ )

Where did John get Mary's engagement ring? Was the ring in John's family? The diamonds don't have the sparkle of gems freshly-cleaned from the jeweller and the faceting on the largest stone indicates that it isn't a diamond at all.

The play of light and the transparency of the middle stone (one can glimpse a bit of the material lining the jewel box through it) are not qualities that one would find in a diamond of that size (exceptions for enormous gems such as one might see in a museum, like the Koh-i-noor or the Hope diamonds). The high refractive index of diamond and the numerous facets cut in stones for jewellery cause light to bounce around and make the stone nearly opaque with refracted light. The optical qualities of the stones in the engagement ring are closer to those of cut glass or quartz. Also, being the hardest mineral on the Mohs scale (exceptions for recently identified minerals in meteorites and volcanic rock) diamond cannot be scratched by other minerals and thus maintains it brilliance. The centre stone in the photo is abraded and duller because of that. 

So, why have we been given this close-up? Are we supposed to notice these things? What are we supposed to make of them? Just a slip up with the props or are they clues? 

We don't see Sherlock getting a look at the ring at the restaurant, but he could have been looking over John's shoulder while we have the close-ups of the ring and John's hands. Even if Sherlock did not see the ring then, he would have seen it once Mary began wearing it. What would that have meant to Sherlock?

Assuming John is oblivious to the quality of the stones because the ring was his mother's or grandmother's and apparently Mary is not bothered by their quality, what would the engagement ring not being what it was believed to be mean as a symbol? Particularly when we compare it to what Sherlock deduced about the Pink Lady's marriage from her wedding ring? Admittedly, the condition of the ring is exaggerated in ASiP. Jennifer Wilson is identified as someone who doesn't work with her hands and yet her wedding ring looks like it's had a go round in the garbage disposal. We are asked to accept that it is in that condition because she doesn't clean it regularly as she does her other pieces of jewellery. So, jewellery associated with marriage that isn't bright and sparkling is equated with a troubled relationship, an _unhappy_ marriage in Jennifer Wilson's case. Carrying on with that symbolism, are we being told that John's engagement to Mary is not a happy one from the outset?

With all the parallels in Series 3 to things in the previous series, I'm inclined to think we are being told something and that this wasn't an oversight in supplying an inadequate prop for an intense close-up that fills the whole screen. But there are examples of seeming oversights, like the close-up of the wedding invitation having a different date than the date used on John's blog, so I suppose an oversight isn't totally out of the question.

As long as I am carrying on about rings, we might think about Jennifer Wilson's engagement ring, which is a spray of diamonds, one large along with many others. She is married with a string of lovers, Sherlock tells us. Hmm.

The ring John gives to Mary consists of three stones, the largest one set in the middle of two smaller stones that match. Hmm, again. Plus we have enough detail in the shot of the middle stone to be confident that it is not a diamond, the other two are not so clear. In the shot, the middle stone and the smaller one on the right are catching the light, the smaller stone on the left is mostly in shadow. What might we deduce about these things?

These details have been pestering me for weeks. Perhaps they will leave me alone now that I've written about them!


End file.
